The Riggs Files
by Krokador
Summary: There's a newcomer at the warehouse. At first everyone is wary of her - maybe they're right. But that doesn't mean artifacts are taking a vacation. Join the gang on the hunt, each chapter is a new episode!


**The Riggs Files - Episode 01: Superstar**

**Job description:** General engineering and upkeep of the warehouse facility and technology.

**Duration: **undetermined

**Location: **Warehouse 13 is located near Univille, in the desert of South Dakota. It houses artifacts of all kinds and as many should come in during your stay there, none should ever come out.

**Co-workers:**

- Agent Peter Lattimer: Tall, dark-haired, childish and free spirited. He has an extremely acute sixth sense. Dislikes paperwork, loves sweets, especially cookies.

- Agent Myka Bering: Strict and organized, strong. High sense of details and minutia. Enjoys reading books but not a fan of technology.

- Agent Arthur 'Artie' Nielsen: A bit grumpy at times, he's running the warehouse from it's source and will be your actual boss. He likes when people respect his authority and don't ask too many questions.

A relatively tall and strong-framed woman flipped through the pages of the report once again. She took in the pictures of her new workplace and co-workers, an inkling of a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. Her left hand came to rest at the back of her neck where she tickled freshly cut chestnut hair. The back was really short whereas the top was a little longer and tickled the top of her ears and her brows up front.

She took a deep breath to steady herself, then folded the slim booklet in two and tucked it in a pocket of her dark blue jumpsuit as she took yet another look at the warehouse.

Maxeen Riggs sighed quietly. She could still hear Mrs. Frederick's words echoing in her mind. "You are going to make the warehouse like new. Eventually."

The place sure looked huge from the outside. Now that she saw it in plain sunlight, the task looked even more daunting. Her hazel eyes sparkled as she stared off into space for a moment, until a loud thud jerked her awake. Her head snapped towards the noise and she witnessed a football bouncing off the ground twice before it settled a good two feet off the door, as if inviting her to cross the threshold.

Forcing in another breath, she resolved to walk over to the door and scraped the entry code she'd been given, hoping her memory wouldn't fault her. She shifted from one foot to the other nervously as she awaited a confirmation, before her face scrunched up and her shoulders slumped at being denied.

"Having trouble with that, sir?" A manly voice came from behind her. The tone was mocking, yet held no malice whatsoever. With a smile, she turned to meet and greet her new co-worker.

"Hi!" The word came out as a squeak, and her sheepish explanation as well as the correction about her gender came to an abrupt stop as she self-consciously shut up to prevent any further... W_ell, whatever that voice was_.

"Oh! I am so sorry m'lady!" Pete corrected himself with a short bow before he picked up the ball and threw it off over the warehouse. With a smile, he then proceeded to punch in his access code, subsequently holding the door open for her with a wink. The girl smiled brightly back and nodded at him before walking in. She already liked agent Lattimer.

"Pete! Could you grab me a tissue from the box on the desk, please? I'm a little stuck here." There was some rumbling following the words, spoken with a bit of uncertain authority. After doing a quick scan of the room they were in, Maxeen assumed that the voice was that of Arthur Nielsen, and to be honest, she was relieved that he sounded more like her grandpa than a severe old man.

Pete moved in front of her in the room and over to a desk where he dropped a box. The lid to it fell open as it landed and revealed six donuts where there should have been a dozen. Still wearing the same bright smile from earlier, Pete then picked up the box of tissue and made his way to where the voice had come from. He dropped it to the ground, then kicked it Artie's way smiling gingerly. "Here ya go, buddy!"

Pete then made his way back to the desk nonchalantly and picked up a donut, took a bite out of it, and mid-chewing realized he'd forgotten something. "Oh, hi there!" He blurted out, with his mouth full. Realizing his mistake again, he finished swallowing the lump and gave Maxeen a solar smile. "I'm Pete!" His voice carried enthusiasm as he walked forward, wiping his right hand on his pants before offering it to the girl. She giggled and shook it in earnest, a smile of her own pretty much glued to her face. She **really** liked Pete already. "You want a donut?"

"Oh please, don't corrupt the children anymore!" This time the voice was female and came from the opposite corner of the room, somewhat muffled by a newspaper held in front of the woman's face. She was sitting on a chair and the only visible parts of her were her crossed womanly legs and her curly hair atop the paper.

Pete turned toward Myka and cocked his head to the side, as if pondering on his come back. When it seemed nothing came to him, he instead decided to change the subject.

"So what is this you're reading so early on a Monday morning, partner?" He had leaned forward a tad to emphasize his last word and was immediately rewarded by Myka's face emerging over the folded back newspaper she was holding.

"This." She started, shaking the paper once as her lips curved slightly upwards. "Is our next mission. But before we get into that." She folded the paper neatly on the page she was on and then sprang up to her feet. A few quick steps later she gently let the paper fall on the desk and then held out her hand to the new girl, her eyes scanning her while she presented herself. "I'm Myka."

"Maxeen, nice to meet you. Both!" The younger girl shook the offered hand with energy and held herself more upright under the appraising glance. When the observing started feeling a little awkward however, she side-stepped Myka and reached for the box of donuts, grabbing for a chocolate one. "But you don't have to worry about him corrupting me. I was well corrupted before I even got here." She added, glad that the squeak in her voice had given way to her ordinary quiet tone.

"Well, well. Miss Riggs. It's good to see you." Artie had gotten out from under the object he was working on and wiped his hands with a handkerchief. "Arthur Nielsen." He offered his hand as well and Maxeen eagerly shook it, her smile unfaltering. That man not only sounded like her grandpa, he **looked** like him. Small, burly, somewhat strict but in a fatherly way. So far everyone looked really nice, and the warehouse seemed to feel less scary already.

"I hear you're my boss, uh?" She asked when the handshake was over, hoping to break the ice correctly.

"Yes, yes!" Artie readjusted his glasses on his nose and squinted slightly. "Come with me, I'll show you what your first task will be."

Pete shot Myka a glance as the two made their way towards the platform for the zipline. "I like her. She looks really smart."

"I don't know. I'm kind of getting a bad vibe about her." Myka replied carefully, her eyes trailing on the door that was just closing.

"Oh, so now you're the one going all guts-y about people?" Pete took another bite of his donut and stopped mid-chewing when Myka took longer than he had expected to answer. "What?"

"I guess you're right. I should just give her a chance." Myka admitted as she turned back to swipe the donut from Pete's fingers. "It's just... She looks so..."

Pete flailed around a bit trying to reach his prized donut but eventually gave up and he instead spotted the box on the other side of the desk from the corner of his eye. "Tomboyish? That's a fault now?"

Myka quickly moved over to the offending box and picked it up as well, tossing both it and the pastry in her hand over to another desk, further away. "No, it's not. I just... can't place it. It doesn't matter." She caught Pete giving her a sad puppy look and sighed as she rolled her eyes. "You need a workout, _partner_."

Pete's face scrunched up. His eyes shifted from side to side until he saw the newspaper Myka had been holding earlier and figured out his escape route. "So, new artifact to look for, right?"

*.*.*

"The structure of the warehouse was built with a rare metal, but with time and aging it has started being a little less stable. God forbid if we were to have another emergency and some of it doesn't hold up." Artie explained as he walked through an alley with Maxeen in tow, a bucket of goo in hand. Maxeen was carrying a box of rags and an odd looking ladder that was a lot less heavy than it looked, and couldn't help her eyes from trailing over the artifacts they were passing by. "Not only that, but all the bad _mojo _- that's what you hipsters call it right? - from the artifacts tends to rub off on stuff after a while."

"I can see how that would happen..." Maxeen had stopped in front of a strangely alluring object which seemed to possess a light of its own. A small, square box with patterns etched onto each of it's sides. If she had had a free hand, she knew she would have been trying to reach for it.

"There is one rule which you have to obey. Do not touch anything without your gloves, and try to not hold onto any of these items for more than a few seconds at a time." The girl's gaze snapped back to her new boss and she nodded in understanding. "If something was to act up. Even if you think you're just dreaming..."

"In the bucket." She finished for her elder, pointing for the bucket Artie was holding with arched eyebrows, as if inquiring about the correct answer.

"Or you can use one of the hoses you'll find down most aisle." Artie finished for her with a nod and a very subtle smile. This girl seemed to be a lot more compliant than Claudia ever was.

"And what is it, exactly, that I have to do?" Maxeen asked as she took in the landscape around her. She was surrounded by so many items and shelves it was hard to take it all in.

"For starters, you'll climb up there and dust every single nook and corner of the ceiling off. Make sure everything's tight, then lather up a bit of neutralizer over it." Artie seemed to somewhat pity her when he looked back down towards Maxeen, his hands clasped together in front of him. "Oh, and the ladder works with that little pump system over there. It'll get you as high as you need to go. Hope you're not afraid of heights."

"All... right." The girl said slowly, letting the magnitude of the task sink in. "I'll... see you in a year, then?" She added jokingly, and was met with a stern stare.

"Lunch break's at noon. I want to see you every two hours up in the office for a refreshment and to make sure you're okay. Am I clear?" Maxeen nodded and smiled faintly. The old man was worried about her already.

"No problem."

"Then I'll let you get to it, I have work to do as well." Artie excused himself as he dropped the bucket to the floor in the far corner of the warehouse. He then started padding his way back, muttering under his breath, really quietly, that he could not wait for his solo prototype of the body electricity car to be ready so he could travel around this place more easily.

"Um, Mr. Nielsen?" Maxeen asked as he was about to turn a corner. Artie stopped in his tracks and shot her a confused glance. "Oh, uh, you prefer Arthur... Artie?" The girl hazarded, hoping she was still being polite.

"Well, Claudia calls me gramps, so, Artie's good enough yes. What is it?" He asked, almost wary of what request was coming his way. _Claudia would probably ask me if she can improve something..._

"What's your policy on iPods and other outside gadgets?" Maxeen's expression was sheepish, as she was already holding her own iPod touch and was ready to put in her earbuds. Artie looked at her and, to Maxeen's surprise, etched a fatherly smile.

"As long as you keep it under control, anything that keeps you sane is fine."

As Artie walked away Maxeen blinked and then her eyes opened wide. _Anything, uh?_ Her eyes trailed over the rags she had and the ladder she had been carrying and a smirk formed at the corner of her lips.

*.*.*

"So this Langdon Jones, is... nobody. One day he's a garbage collector and the next he's a superstar?" Pete's voice carried a good amount of disbelief, but his eyes sparkled of barely contained mischief. Myka dismissed his childish behavior and continued on her findings as Artie was making his way back into the room, panting ever so slightly.

"Not just that. He's over **every** single information network. Twitter, google, Facebook. Name it, his name is there. All within a single day. Worldwide." The statements did little to contain Pete's growing excitement.

"So what kind of item could it be? A bandana? Sunglasses! A stud bracelet?" He started enumerating a bunch of different clothing items until Artie slipped the picture of the guy underneath his face. "Oh wow. He's not exactly pretty boy either."

"Whatever it is he found, he only started using it yesterday. He made his scene debut in a small cafe in New England. His performance was recorded and put on Youtube." Artie woke his computer from the screen saver and typed a few characters. Almost instantly, the video popped up on the screen and some relatively crappy music started filling the room.

"I may not be very versed music-wise..." Myka begun, her arms crossed over her chest. "But this is some terrible sound he's got there." Pete nodded and moved closer to the monitor in the hopes of spotting something that was off.

"This is so dark, isn't there a way to... brighten it?" He asked as he squinted to try and get a better view. Artie shrugged and gave him a no-can-do look before turning his attention back to the screen. Suddenly, a man started singing. At first the sound was scrappy - sounded like he had a bad case of cigarette throat - but as he neared the chorus, the melody took a very different turn. It sounded as if his notes were multiplying, splitting in harmonics of it's own, and by the time he had made it to the bridge, all three listeners were mesmerized with his vocal ability.

While the song was still playing, a short woman with short red hair and a stray green strand made her way into the office and winced as the music filled her ears. "Oh. My. God. Gramps! Do I make you listen to my music without your consent?" She asked almost defiantly, shaking her head as she made her way to the computer to shut off that horrible sound. However, she stopped in her tracks as she noticed nobody even knew she was there yet, as they were all glued to the screen and not paying attention to anything else whatsoever. A mischievous thought crossed her mind and for a moment she observed the three agents with a smirk before rolling her eyes and reaching out for the sound knob on the speakers. Painting on their faces would have to wait for another day when she wasn't already grounded.

As soon as the sound was cut off, all three heads snapped her way and six very irritated eyes stared a hole right through her head. "Hello's to you as well, warehouse crew?" She said with a bob of her head, her expression demanding an explanation for what had just occurred.

"That was pretty messed up." Pete remarked after a moment of silence, his jaw squared pensively.

"Hell yes it was!" Claudia agreed almost vehemently. "I thought this guy's voice was going to tear my eardrums out!" She added when the stares fell on her again.

"Y-you... Didn't like it? Claudia?" Artie asked the girl with a frown. Claudia raised her hands in the air and shrugged as she shook her head with a "What else did you expect" look on her face, which led to Artie shooting a glance back at the screen.

"Say, think you could brighten that video up a little so we can see what he's wearing and using?" Pete asked again, this time directing his question to the girl. Artie gave him a disapproving look but he ignored it and pressed on.

"I'll see what I can do. Oh, hey, Can I have a donut?"

Simultaneously, Myka's voice raised a no, Pete a yes, and Artie rolled his eyes. "Can we just get back to the matter at hand here?" He asked his crew, a little exasperated.

Claudia took a bite off her freshly picked up pastry and gave him an inquisitive look. "What? He's the matter at hand, no?" She said, pointing towards the video still playing on the screen on mute.

"No, you are." Artie explained as calmly as he could. "This video has the entire world mesmerized to the point that this guy became a superstar overnight. And you..."

"Well I always loathed the mainstream stuff, so, by default, I should hate that guy." Claudia offered, still somewhat clueless as to what was going on.

"He's most likely using an artifact to hypnotize everyone with his voice." Myka explained when she noticed Claudia's puzzled look. "So, _mainstream loathing_ or not, you should have been affected just as much as we were."

The young girl slowly nodded and after a moment muttered an "I see." She then motioned for Artie to scoot over and sat down in front of the computer. A couple clicks and typed letters later, a list of critics about the "Great Langdon Jones" was displayed on the screen. Quite effectively, none of them were remotely bad.

"Okay. Freaking out mode: ON. Not that I'm complaining about not being affected by this artifact, but I don't like the fact that I seem to be the only one whom actually hated that piece of garbage."

Pete couldn't hold back a chuckle after Claudia's statement, which caused the girl to turn to him with a mix of fear and hurt crossing her features. "Well, you said piece of garbage. And it turns out, this man's a garbage collector." He paused and when nobody seemed to find it funny he gave in. "It was funny in my head!"

"What kind of object can do this?" Claudia asked as she started fiddling around with the video to try and get a clearer view. When she seemed satisfied with her work, she made the picture she was working on occupy the whole monitor and pointed at it.

"We can't exclude anything." Myka stated as she leaned in closer to observe the stage. The man called Langdon was alone on it, holding an old, beaten up acoustic guitar in his hands. Nothing from his outfit seemed all that out of the ordinary. He wore pale jeans and a once-white t-shirt. His shoes were quite worn and he had no watch nor bracelet nor jewelry of any kind. The stage was also pretty bare, consisting of a chair and a single microphone lit up by a single spot apparently hanging awkwardly over the performer.

"Maybe it's something he ate?" Came Pete's observation as he finished up the donut he had sneakily gnawed on for the past five minutes, unnoticed by his partner.

"Or his underwear? I mean, we did deal with super hero trunks not that long ago, so why not?" Claudia offered, obviously at a loss for any sort of plausible explanation.

"I guess we'll just have to go there and see." Myka gave up and shrugged. It was what they did, anyway.

"Oh, yes. Can I come too?" Claudia directed her question to Artie, making it a point to sound as excited as she could. When Artie barely reacted, she clasped her hands together in front of her and forced a gigawatt smile on her face. "You said I needed to get out of the warehouse more! Some field work can't hurt!"

Artie sighed and shook his head. "There's an envelope with **two** plane tickets on the desk behind me." He said, putting a slight bit of emphasis on the number to let Claudia know she wasn't going. "And I need you, young one, to go get something for me in the storage." He added, remembering his previous task as well as the endless walk to the other end of the warehouse.

"Oh great. I'm on fetching duty again." She muttered under her breath as she tried to keep a hint of a smile on her face. "So where are you guys going, anyway?" Her attempt to maybe get some relief by learning that the two agents were going somewhere awful was immediately crushed when Pete flashed the tickets in front of her face.

"We're gunna get clamcakes and chowdah!" Pete sang happily as he danced like a dork, and Claudia recognized that he was trying to make her feel better. She smiled faintly and waved the duo goodbye before she turned to Artie for her retrieval assignment.

*.*.*

There was a loud clang and then a thud, which led Claudia to forgo her task for a moment to check out what could be causing disturbances in the warehouse. Her feet led her to the corner where Maxeen was working, although the girl was not anywhere in sight and the ladder she should have been standing on was awkwardly bobbing on the shelf opposed to where she was.

"What the?" Claudia asked out loud, pressing on to the ladder to stop it from moving further as her eyes scanned the aisle for a sign of something moving.

"Uh, a little help? Up here?" Maxeen chocked out, tightening her grip around the beam that had saved her life. Her feet paddled a little in thin air as she tried to secure her grip, but it was obvious she wasn't going to hold on very long.

Claudia looked up and blinked twice before it clicked in her mind that she should put the ladder against that beam to help the person - whoever that was - climb down to safety. Maxeen caught her footing almost instantly and then looked down to get a better look at her savior. "Uh, do you mind holding it while I go down?" She asked with one eyebrow raised. Claudia nodded and pressed herself against it, jumping ever so slightly when Maxeen put her left foot on the edge and literally slid down instead of using the steps.

"Lost your footing?" The smaller, much smaller, girl asked, her expression however irradiating a pressing _who the hell are you_? question. Maxeen looked up and then back down and shook her head.

"No, not at all. Something... kicked it away." Her eyes were scanning the shelves around her in hopes to find which artifact had caused this. She wasn't going back up until it was neutralized.

"Well, I guess we better find out what before you go back up there, right? Uh..." Claudia echoed her thoughts and gave her a shy smile. She observed the girl and her mind went reeling. Was she... he? Why was that person there? Why hadn't Artie told her about the new guy?

"I'm Max." Maxeen offered tentatively, unsure of why she had used the diminutive version of her name when it was obvious everyone would be confused about her gender considering what she was wearing. She stood a good six inches taller than the girl in front of her, whom she knew nothing of either. "I... uh. I, fix, things?" _Right, way to be vague..._

"Claudia."

There was an awkward silence, during which Claudia seemed to wonder if she was supposed to shake this person's hand, or give a hug, or do any other kind of social touchy gesture she wasn't really used to. "I, well, I fix things here, too."

There seemed to be a glint of understanding lighting up in Maxeen's eyes, before she winced slightly. "Oh, that must be why you weren't in the report." She offered lamely, a hint of disappointment creasing her forehead. "That's too bad, 'cause, well, you seem nice and all."

"Woah wait. Rewind. Are you saying you think you took my place? What report are you talking about. Who the heck are you?" Claudia rushed her sentences out, a good bit upset with what she was hearing and unable to really process the situation. The only thought going through her mind was that she was being discarded.

"You... didn't come here to pick up your stuff because you were fired?" Maxeen kicked herself mentally for making such an assumption. The girl in front of her had the right to be upset.

"No I'm not!" Claudia shouted, her finger pointed at the guy in front of her. He was so arrogant, it couldn't be a girl her age. At least in her current mindset it was what she had decided. "I work here! I help with the missions! I do inventory. I'm part of the family!"

"I'm sorry!" Maxeen raised both her hands in the air and frowned, hoping the squeaky outburst was enough to calm the girl down. "I was given a report concerning the warehouse and its employees. And you weren't there. Obviously they didn't tell you about me either. I thought it meant something, but hey, honest mistake? So forgive me, I didn't mean to make you upset."

Claudia took a deep breath and was about to verbally forgive the new employee when the ladder came tumbling down towards her. She froze on the spot, unable to get her body to move. Fortunately for her, Maxeen had moved in front of her, towering over her with her arm raised over her head in an attempt to deflect the tool. Both girls had their eyes shut when the ladder hit them and then fell to the ground in a deafened thud.

"Are you okay?" Maxeen was the first to open her eyes and found herself much closer to the other girl than she thought she was. When Claudia opened her eyes a half second afterwards, both their eyes grew wide and they both took a step back to find some space again.

"I... uh. Thanks." She stuttered as her eyes scanned the perimeter for the offending artifact once more. Maxeen joined in, absently rubbing at the arm that had saved the girl. That impact would leave a bruise. "Is your arm okay?"

Maxeen realized what she was doing and reacted with a nod, shrugging the matter off. "I'm tough, I'll survive." She was looking up and for the first time since their encounter, Claudia had a good view of her facial features and immediately dismissed the possibility of this person being a guy. The jumpsuit was misleading, and so was the haircut, but everything else about Maxeen was of a rough womanly grace. She was almost twice her size, her build a lot more athletic than hers, and there was something about her jawline that gave off a feeling of authority. Yet, the freckled skin shown recent traces of acne and Claudia concluded that this girl wasn't much older than her, if not even younger.

"Been having dark thoughts up there?" She asked rhetorically, unaware that the question was a lot more personal than it should be until she saw the look of guilt on Maxeen's face. "Artifacts. Set off by our negative energy. You kinda... gotta be super zen when you're 'round here. Otherwise they lurch onto your insecurities, you know?"

Maxeen nodded and etched on a sad smile. "Yea. I don't see anything on these shelves that would move on its own though."

"Me neither." Claudia admitted a moment later, moving in closer to where the ladder had been resting. "Unless Elvis Presley's bowling ball has something against your music?" She pointed to a very flashy ball resting on the very top shelf.

"He probably would." Maxeen agreed with a giggle as she remembered the earphones hanging around her neck, dislodged from her ears by the fall. "But I know it didn't move when I was up there. Could... the ladder be an artifact?" The question was just a wild throw in, in hopes of figuring the mystery out, and little did she think Claudia would take it so seriously.

"No way! Artie wouldn't let you actually **work** with an artifact. It's against house policy!" She fumed, picking up said ladder and glaring at it.

Maxeen raised her hand and sighed, about to say that, although the technology was peculiar, the ladder was probably inoffensive when it lifted itself off the ground and into her open palm. "It's just a.. probably an artifact."

Claudia's face distorted in disbelief and without a second thought just stormed away, resuming her previous task like she hadn't even met Maxeen. The taller girl stood where she was, a little dumbfounded, wondering what in the world had just gone on with that redhead.

She was forced to get back to working when she realized the girl wasn't going to come back. She shot a glance at the ladder and raised an eyebrow. "No more throwing me off the ceiling, alright? We have a deal?"

*.*.*

Claudia walked back into the office space in a huff, simply dropping the items Artie had asked her to bring back on the ground before sitting down at the computer and looking up the artifact database in hopes to find the missing link to either her immunity to that Langdon Jones, or to his own power. She ignored Artie's protest at having to get out from under his vehicle prototype to get what he needed and kept typing.

"What is going on?" He asked, loud - as if repeating a question -, now standing next to her and looking over her shoulder.

"What is wrong?" She asked almost in disbelief, her head turning so her gaze could fall on her boss. When she saw surprise on his features her irritation seemingly grew in intensity. "There's a new employee and I'm told nothing about her! She gets to use artifacts to do her job! And worse of all? She knew about everyone prior to coming here, **except me**!"

Artie took a step back and could only offer Claudia a stare. "I... I d-d..." He stammered and looked around as if hoping to find his answer in the office's decoration. "I had no idea you were going to meet her." He finally offered lamely, hoping the answer was good enough.

"What?" Claudia leaned back in her chair and squinted, trying to read her boss' expression. "That doesn't make any sense."

"I know." Artie admitted in defeat, taking a seat on the edge of the table. "You and Maxeen weren't supposed to meet today. Figured it was better to watch her for a bit before she could be exposed to your bad influence."

The quote had Claudia straighten up in her seat, the corner of her mouth curling down in contempt. The motion was meant to let Artie go on, but when he didn't start talking again she rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath.

"What was that?"

"I said: _Right, figures._" Claudia repeated louder, letting out a sigh at the end of her sentence. For some reason, that just made her get more irritated, but not with Artie. She couldn't really understand it, but all of a sudden that new girl was really getting under her skin. "So you were planning on telling me about her, when?"

Artie's answer was a lazy shrug, which he followed by putting his hand on Claudia's shoulder. The girl gave him a bit of a warning glare but didn't react otherwise so he finished his explanation. "I figured you'd meet her here during one of her breaks. Not out there... How did you end up meeting her anyway? She was working quite a few aisles down from where you were going."

Claudia had an ironic smirk. "That's the artifact part."

"Oh god." Was Artie's only reaction before he disappeared into the storage section of the warehouse, leaving Claudia wondering for all of a second before she shrugged the matter off and went back to her research. Whatever it was, it did not concern her anymore.

*.*.*

"I'm okay! Really, Artie. Kinda busy up here." Maxeen was trying to stay afoot on her artifact-ladder while it seemed Artie was trying to take it off directly from under her feet.

"I can't let you use an active artifact that could fall below you at any moment, Miss Riggs." He groaned and looked up sternly, earning himself a sigh before he was thrown onto his butt by Maxeen sliding off the ladder.

"I said I got this under control." She repeated, waving a velcro band in his face as he stared up at her from his spot on the ground.

"What's that?" He grumbled while shuffling back to a standing position.

"Velcro." Maxeen deadpanned, apparently very unamused by the disturbance.

"And how does that contain the artifact exactly?" The tone was reprimanding and it seemed to tick off the girl some more.

"I have two of those and I use them to tie the ladder in place every time I move it. I've been fine for the half hour it took you and Claudia to go to and from, so really..." She snapped the words at him and then shook her head slightly before her eyes trailed to the piece of velcro in her hand. "I... think I need a break."

"Where did you get these, Riggs?" Artie frowned and Maxeen's eyes shifted to avoid his gaze.

"They were on the shelf over there. Not tagged or anything!" Maxeen offered lamely. "They're not an artifact!"

"Are you insinuating that you were being insubordinate on purpose?" Artie's eyebrows entirely knit together as he watched the girl's reaction. Maxeen shifted uncomfortably and finally chose to leave the piece of velcro on the ladder and to drop her cleaning rags.

"My brother was a jerk. I guess I'm picking up his slack." Her answer dropped behind her as she was already making her way back to the office, mumbling a note to herself to get roller blades or a skateboard for her next day.

Unable to really analyze her tone of voice, Artie sighed and went trotting behind her, resolving himself to having a weird day already.

*.*.*

"Pete..." An exasperated Myka warned, slightly out of breath as she followed Pete through a bunch of people. The man was using his badge to get first in line at Iggy's and since it was tourist season, the place was crowded.

"Myka, we're on duty. I'm hungry. I gotta get food fast." He explained with a wink, before turning back to the attendant behind the counter and passing his order. His partner rolled her eyes and gave up with a sigh. It was true that they were late getting to the cafe in Warwick, Rhode Island.

Minutes later, Pete emerged from the crowd holding two bags, one of which seemed to already be leaking with grease. That was encouraging. "I got us doughboys!" The man chimed in happily as he slipped into the driver's seat of their rental car, a black jeep. Myka shook her head and stepped in as well, urging Pete to go right away. "You eat chowder at least, right?" Myka glared at him and after a moment of silence she got off the car and walked around to stand right in front of Pete's door. "Okay, you drive then." He gave up and jumped to the passenger seat and they were on their way.

The cafe was packed, most likely due to the previous night's events. Each with a doughboy in hand - Myka wasn't too sure how Pete had convinced her to try them, but had to admit they weren't bad - the two special agents threaded through the fanatics all the way up to the stage.

"Are you here for open mic night?" A middle-aged lady slightly on the pudgy side, her long curly hair framing an extremely enthusiast expression. It was obvious she was happy that business was running so well.

"Actually, we were hoping..."

"Of course we are!" Pete interrupted Myka with his index finger pointed at her chin. "That's exactly why we came! We're... talent scouts. For music. A... music label."

Myka's eyes grew wide for a second when she understood what Pete was doing. She then played along with his game hoping the cover would hold up and they wouldn't have to flash their badges. "Yes. We represent South 13. You've never heard of us, we're pretty new. We were, well, hoping to meet the new phenomenon, Langdon Jones?" The Regeants had been pretty clear they wanted them to be more subtle during their missions, what Pete wasn't usually good at. She would give him this one.

For a moment, the lady looked utterly disappointed. "Oh, I thought you were going to climb on stage." Myka blinked nervously and shook her hands in front of her face to dismiss that idea while the woman continued. "Jones is taking the day off, and nobody dares get on that stage after his performance."

"That's too bad..." Myka begun, preparing to ask if they could have a look around the stage anyway when Pete stepped in front of her with a beaming smile. There was a spark in his eye, but it wasn't his usual childish spark. This was more like... _Oh no, he's not thinking..._

"I can! I can do this. Singing, I mean. Do you have an axe I can borrow?" He slipped on his sunglasses and smirked, ignoring his partner's piercing glare flaring through the back of his head.

The lady's eyes lit up with part excitement, part relief, and she nodded energetically. "I'll ask my son to bring his' down. You can go familiarize yourself with the stage in the mean time if you want. All the equipment was refurbished last week, works like new!" She had barely finished her sentence with a proud smile that she excused herself with a nod and disappeared in the crowd, leaving Pete to Myka's disapproving glare.

"What? I get to walk freely around the stage and we don't even need to go all _Secret Service_ on people!" He defended himself while shrugging. Myka kept on staring at him a little longer, until he started cringing slightly and raised an eyebrow at her.

"Do you even know how to sing and play?"

Pete looked somewhat hurt when he answered with the affirmative. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go take in the view of the superstar."

"Well, make sure you take in the view right. She said all the stuff was new, and there was nothing **on** Jones that looked remotely like an artifact, so it's probably something on stage that did this. We'll know for sure if the crowd starts liking you." Her last sentence was uttered with a smirk and was met with Pete gunning his hand in her direction.

"Right. I'll sign a shirt for you once I become famous."

*.*.*

Silence seemed to reign supreme at the Bed&Breakfast's outside dining table. The weather was pretty darn warm and clear, and Leena had judged appropriate to celebrate the newcomer's first night with a barbecue. However, the ambiance was all but festive.

Claudia was glad she had managed to dodge Maxeen while she was on her breaks, because quite honestly, she still couldn't pinpoint the reason why she felt so spiteful towards her. Every time she glanced her way, there would be a pinch in her guts and she had to quickly avert her gaze so as to not be caught staring.

The hatred, it was a strong word but strangely fitting, she felt was unjustified. Maxeen was a sweet girl with caring eyes and a gentle, obviously pained smile. Her manners were rather rough, but she was chivalrous and paid attention. So she had a biting remark from time to time, but who was Claudia to hold that against her?

The tension between the two girls had the other two participant fishing for a way to break the awkwardness. On a whim, Leena finally looked over to Maxeen and spoke in her most gentle tone. "So, how was your day?"

Claudia immediately frowned at the snappy response. "Cleaning's cleaning, what would you expect?" Was the girl speaking the same one that had almost proudly announced to Claudia she was maybe taking her place? The display of bitterness, not to mention how rude she was to an innocent bystander gave the red head a bit more leverage in not liking this new person. It never crossed her mind that maybe, **just maybe**, she was telling herself she should hate her just because she was new and about her age. That maybe she felt _threatened_ by the prospect of having a new member join the family.

Suddenly realizing her remark had cut through the atmosphere like a knife in butter - frozen butter however, leaving quite an edge - Maxeen blinked and, with a sheepish laugh, dismissed the tension. "I mean, it's not what I expected when I was told I was going to work for the secret service. But hey, the ladder didn't throw me off again, so, not that bad."

Artie seemed a little unsettled about her answer, but all he gave was a sideways glance and a quiet grunt, which Maxeen received with a shrug while Leena tried to keep the conversation going. "What about you, Claudia?"

She wasn't expecting to be given the right to speak so soon and nervously picked a bite of salad she almost choked on to hide the fact that she'd been staring, again. Ever since the girl had held the door open for her and she had practically swooned before remembering who this was, she just couldn't get her eyes off of her. Couldn't shake off the nag she felt every time she just as much as moved.

"Uh..." she started before coughing twice to clear her throat. "Did some research but didn't find anything about our instant solo Backstreet Boy, or what could have caused him to sing so badly..." she explained with a bit of disappointment. She thought she was done but Artie gave her an inquisitive look and she sighed before adding. "I couldn't find any artifact on me either..."

"Maybe I could look into it if you want..." Maxeen offered before chowing down on her piece of bread, her mind wandering into why-am-I-so-hungry land before Claudia and Artie answered together.

"It's classified!"

"You're welcome to!"

There was a pause during which the two girls eyed each other. Maxeen swallowed her bite and raised an eyebrow. She could feel anger being directed at her, but couldn't tell what she'd done to deserve it.

_The nerve_... Claudia thought as she dipped her eyes to her plate, capitulating.

"What's the deal, exactly?" Maxeen dismissed Claudia's outburst and instead focused on Artie. The man went on to explain the progress done that day and what little information he had gathered.

"Which is why I was hoping Claudia would've found something about the man..." He shook his hand in front of Claudia's face when she didn't respond to his implied question. She jumped slightly but never lifted her gaze off her plate.

"He's got a high school diploma, works with the Warwick, RI waste department, and the guy has no Internet imprint, besides all the Youtube vids. No facebook, twitter or whatever. No criminal record, no girlfriend."

"He's practically an hermit!" Maxeen added with a chuckle. Leena followed suit as Artie shook his head, but Claudia was still ignoring her.

"He practically owns nothing. No credit card, a simple savings account... He's nobody alright."

"That also means he's relatively untraceable. Maybe he's got another identity." Leena offered, helpfully. Claudia finally deigned looking up and scrunched up her face.

"I checked. He does have that kinda profile. But I found nada. This guy's as clean as a goldfish in soapy water."

"Maybe he doesn't even know why he's all of a sudden popular. Maybe he's just a victim." Maxeen offered, hopeful. She was shut down by the grim looks on everyone's face. "Excuse me for wanting to give the guy the benefit of the doubt!" The words squeaked out of her throat and she started being annoyed by how her voice would just jump from one extreme to the other like she was some twelve year old. "Can I see that video, see if you've missed anything?"

"Maybe after dinner?" Leena offered her piece, sensing that the tempers were heating up and that this was supposed to be a relaxing, fun dinner. Not a family feud. Artie immediately agreed with her.

"Yeah, whatever." Claudia said, grabbing her empty plate off the table. "I'm done anyway, and I'm cooking out here, how can you keep that thing on?" She asked Maxeen, pointing at the jumpsuit the girl was still wearing, sleeves down and zipped up to her neck.

There was a bit of an uncomfortable shift in Maxeen's stance, and then her head snapped up. Her brain seemed willing to respond that she was, indeed, frying, but her actual response was uttered slowly and accompanied by an intense glare. "None of your business."

Claudia's eyes grew wide and she seemed to search for words for a moment. Artie shot an apologetic glance to Maxeen but neither her nor Claudia noticed it. "I can't believe it! You know what? Screw you! Don't bother talking to me until you're not all PMS."

Claudia stormed off, not bothering to give anyone a chance to say something. Maxeen eventually shook her head and then let her forehead fall in her open palm. "Ugh..."

Leena smiled sympathetically and gave Maxeen a pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry. She hated me for a while too."

The younger girl sighed and returned the woman's faint smile. "I'm not really giving her reasons to like me..."

"If that makes it any better, you don't have to wear a jumpsuit tomorrow." Artie offered, unable to find anything else to say.

"I don't exactly have any other clothes." It was true, the little stuff she did have was on its way to South Dakota, but she hadn't packed anything that morning to get to the job. Mrs. Frederick hadn't really given her a chance to.

Leena suddenly grinned at her, as if she was genuinely happy to offer her help. "I can take you shopping if you want."

"Oh..." Maxeen's face fell. She _hated_ shopping.

*.*.*

Pete stood on stage with a bright red Fender Stratocaster strapped to his shoulder, his eyes scanning the crowd. From time to time he'd shoot a long glance at the stage he was standing on. Yes, it was pretty bare. Yes, the crowd had thinned down when they had realized it wasn't Langdon Jones performing tonight. But nonetheless, this was like a dream come true for the special agent. All these years as a teenager spent practicing in his dad's basement, and later on in the quiet of his apartment. He suddenly wished he could just take a break from work and go find his trusty old vintage Gibson Explorer, which he'd gotten a friend to paint a flame on an electric blue background. Getting the rest of his stuff would also be a perk.

"What name should I announce, sir?" The small lady, who'd revealed to be the cafe's owner's wife, was ready to get the show underway. Pete frowned as the gears in his head worked to find himself a stage name. He had come up with way too many in his spare time to just heads or tails through the list, and he couldn't use his real name either.

He couldn't believe he was drawing a blank so close to his dream. His eyes fell on Myka who was standing at a respectable distance from the stage. She wasn't paying attention to him, instead in a conversation with a regular of the place, probably asking about Jones.

"Flaming Frog." The words tumbled out of his mouth before he'd even thought about them, and although it rung damn well in his head, the woman's expression told him otherwise.

"You're the Flaming Frog?" She repeated, unsure. Pete smirked and knew this really was it. To heck, if he had to become famous, might as well be with an original name.

"Flaming Frog Hero, actually." Now that sounded super. He then struck a perfectly clean G chord and winked at the lady as she now had the full attention of the crowd.

"Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, I present to you tonight's rising star: the Flaming Frog Hero!"

_This is it! _Pete thought nervously as all eyes fell on him. The lights in the rest of the cafe also dimmed. Now alone on the stage, Pete was so focused he didn't even notice Myka shaking her head at his stage name.

Following on his first chord, Pete progressed the notes until he was playing the Smoke on the Water riff, a few hardcore people in the back already yelling and headbanging. Encouraged, Pete kept up with the song and played it through, earning himself a good hand of applause - but nothing quite as frenetic as the crowd after Jones' performance. A little disappointed, he thanked the crowd as he made sure the collar of his leather jacket was up and his glasses well adjusted. "Alright baby, the warmup's over!" He shouted as his fingers worked up the opening to a much heavier and complicated song without a single mistake. Guitar Hero players could go back to practicing, they had nothing on him.

"Your friend's really good!" The man who'd been talking to Myka before the performance stated, nearly yelling so he could be heard above the music. Myka pursed her lips and nodded. As much as she hated to admit it, Pete had her surprised there, and that much without an artifact.

"The crowd doesn't like him as much as they liked Jones, though!" She had to repeat twice, the second time facing the glares of the happy listeners. But the man finally heard her and agreed sadly.

"Poor guy ran away to his sister's place, completely freaked out by what happened."

Myka raised an eyebrow and leaned in, curiosity getting the best of her. "You wouldn't happen to know her address? We really want to talk to him."

The man turned to Myka, ready to deny her the information, but he was met with the sight of her police badge and bit his lip.

"It's really important." Myka added.

*.*.*

After apologizing to Leena and explaining that she really just hated shopping, and not the fact that the nice woman was offering to go with her, Maxeen had gone to Univille's general store and gotten two new outfits. It really was all she could afford with her current savings, especially since she wanted to afford the skateboard with the really eye-catching art under it. She was a few dollars short of being able to buy everything in fact, but after explaining what the skateboard was for and promising to pay back as soon as she'd get a paycheck, Leena had caved in and lent her a few bucks.

It was relatively late when they got back to the B&B, and it seemed it was a night in and everyone was occupied in their rooms, the lights filtering through the windows giving a homey feeling to the place. Her bag of purchases slung over her shoulder, Maxeen bowed slightly and thanked Leena as they parted way. She climbed the stairs towards her room and stopped in her tracks when she saw Claudia sitting in front of her laptop and typing the hell out of it.

She observed the thin frame of the woman bending over with fatigue and pondered disturbing her or not. She still hadn't had a chance to check out the youtube video of that Langdon Jones, and the simple itch of curiosity pushed her to knock on the girl's door frame gently.

"What?" Came the startled response as Claudia straightened up and turned her head towards the door. Her brows furrowed slightly when she saw who it was but the look on Maxeen's face softened her expression easily.

"I'm sorry, for earlier." She started, tentatively taking a step into the room. Just one. Claudia blinked, but didn't protest and she took that as a sign to go on. "I have no excuse for being a jerk." Another pause, she bent down and put her bag of purchases by the door. Claudia raised an eyebrow so she would go on. "I was wondering if I could watch the video with you. See if I can find something. You've been at it all day, I figure a pair of fresh eyes could be useful."

Claudia took a moment to observe the girl standing in her door frame. Her hair was brushed to the side haphazardly and her jumpsuit was zipped down to the limit of decency, not that it looked like the girl had much to show anyway. She was standing straight, her arms on each side of her body, and the red head had a hard time figuring how this wasn't making her more uneasy. _She could at least cross her arms over her chest or something..._ "Alright. I doubt there's anything we missed. There might just not be **any** clues at all in the video for all we know. But if it amuses you to get hypnotized, go for it."

Claudia flipped her laptop towards Maxeen, who took that as a sign to move forward. She squatted down in front of it and nodded to signify she was ready. Claudia hit the spacebar and the same awful intro she'd heard about a hundred times or more that day started filling the room once more. Maxeen's face scrunched up and her brows knit together. "That's...?"

She was interrupted by a "wait for it" that Claudia uttered softly, somehow enjoying the prospect of seeing the new girl hypnotized. _I could draw her a mustache, she's not going to give me hell for it..._

So Maxeen waited. Jones started wailing in the microphone and her mouth opened in gaping, however her brows remained furrowed and her forehead crinkled, a hint of disbelief starting to show. Claudia shot her a perplex glance and got it back double. "Now?" Maxeen inquired, not too sure what was going on. Claudia's eyes grew wide and she shrugged, unsure what to say.

"You're immune too?" Her expression left no question as to how surprised she was. Maxeen sniffed and cocked her head to the side.

"Is that so uncommon?" She finally asked, turning her head toward Claudia searching for an answer.

"As far as I know, there's only you and me." Claudia had a bit of trouble hiding that she was a little disappointed by the turn of event. It felt like uniqueness had been ripped out from under her feet.

"What do we have in common?" Maxeen asked cautiously, aware that the stare she was getting wasn't exactly friendly.

"Do we even **have** anything in common?" It was said more vehemently than intended, but there was no reason to take it back. Because of where she was looking - a couple feet to the left of Maxeen - Claudia heard the shift before she saw the girl get up and storm out of her room. She sighed and flipped her laptop back towards her.

Maxeen had been right about the fresh pair of eyes. They had more information than before. But no way to use it yet.

*.*.*

It only took a knock and a half for the front door to Langdon Jones' sister to open about an inch, a number of chains preventing it from opening further. "What do you want?" The tone was snippy, a reply coming from someone whom had been disturbed one time too many during the day. Pete and Myka looked at each other and then without a word flashed their badges to the lady, who's eyes became the size of eggs. The short, dark skinned lady immediately closed the door, fumbled with the chains and reopened it wide for the two very unexpected visitors.

"Please take a seat, I'll go get some tea and some cookies." Pete mouthed the words, his voice barely above a whisper, feeling a bit disappointed with the not-so-warm welcome they were receiving. They stood in the bare kitchen, only room of the apartment besides the bedroom, and it was empty of any type of chair besides an old wobbly bench that neither of them dared sit on. Myka shot him a side glance and swiftly elbowed him in the ribs, hard enough to earn an humpf from her partner.

"Sorry it took so long." The woman who was supposed to be Langdon Jones' sister came back from the bedroom with a single sheet of paper in her hands.

"I'm sorry, what is this?" Myka inquired as she took the piece of paper in her hands and started examining it.

"Langdon left earlier today, without any warning, and left this letter behind."

"It looks like a grocery list." Pete remarked as he poked at the writing with more or less interest. "Oh, I know!" His face lit up and a huge smile crawled across his cheeks. "It's a hidden message! Or a code!" He was nearly jumping up and down in excitement, to which Myka answered with a shake of her head.

"I guess it's worth a shot. We'll have to bring that back to our headquarters, ma'am. If that's okay with you. Maybe Claudia can crack it."

"Oh, anything that can help make sure Langdon is safe and stop all this madness." The woman's voice seemed full of genuine concern, but Pete frowned slightly.

"Oh, you wouldn't know if Langdon acquired any special item recently? An old pendant, a navel ring, or, you know... Stinky underwear?" He got another glare from Myka but shrugged it off with his trademark sheepish smile, to which anyone would cave anyway.

"N-not that I know of." The two warehouse agents exchanged a glance. There was something there, in that slight moment of hesitation.

"You wouldn't have given him a gift recently?" Myka pushed on, taking a single step towards the woman. She instinctively took a step back.

"Well... I bought him a guitar for his birthday. He always dreamed of being a musician. Never thought it would go this far!" She was frightened. Myka stepped back and relaxed, leaving the obvious question to Pete.

"Where'd you find that guitar?"

The woman shook her head and shrugged. "A thrift store downtown. I think it was called Donnie's Attic?"

Pete nodded and then turned to Myka. "We going?"

"Wait. You're not suggesting that the... guitar is like, haunted or something." Langdon's sister worriedly played with the hem of her shirt.

"Ma'am, I suggest you let us deal with this from now on. Just try to stay safe while we investigate, okay?" Pete offered with a smile, to which the woman nodded with a sigh.

"Thank you. Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you."

Back outside, Myka picked up the Farnsworth from her pocket and called Artie for directions to Donnie's office.

"Anything new?" Artie inquired without even saying hello, his grumpiness evident in his voice.

"The kids been a handful?" Myka was mostly amused by the obvious battle of the alpha teenager that was going on at the warehouse.

Artie gave her reason with a string of unintelligible grumbles. "They both are immune to the Jones effect, but they refuse to work together."

"Well, we got a lead here. Langdon's sister told us she got his guitar last week at a thrift store downtown. She said it was called Donnie's Attic. Can you give us coordinates?"

The sound of keys being struck on a keyboard filled the air for a few seconds. "Ah!" Artie turned back to his Farnsworth and nodded to himself. "It's only a few blocks from where you are. Corner of Shore Road and Reynolds Avenue." Some random screaming started filling the background behind Myka and Artie frowned. "Everything okay?"

"Don't worry too much about... hold on." Myka lifted her head and her eyes grew wide as she witnessed the origins of the cacophony. Pete was being swarmed by angry Langdon Jones groupies.

"I think we've been followed!" He shouted to Myka, one hand up in the air. His face shown a smile meaning he was kind of enjoying this. "I'm fine!" He added for emphasis.

"What's going on?" Artie inquired. Myka remained still for a few seconds.

"I was going to say there have been no casualties yet so it wasn't something we needed to solve quick but..."

"I said I'm fiiiine!" Pete repeated with a burst of laughter, which suddenly turned into a surprised yelp. "Uh, 'lil help here? You got the wrong guy, girls. Girls! ... GIRLS?"

"Please get these two to talk to each other and figure something out." Myka hurriedly asked Artie before she shut the Farnsworth closed and ran to Pete's rescue.

*.*.*

Sitting each at opposites sides of the table, both Maxeen and Claudia were avoiding looking at each other in favor of observing the "letter" left behind by Langdon Jones. Leena was watching over them, quite annoyed with the two teenagers.

"You girls got anything?" She finally asked as she realized her foot tapping was starting to give her cramps. Maxeen frowned slightly, as if staring through the sheet of paper would give her an answer. Then she sighed in unison with Claudia.

"This is your typical grocery list. Maybe there was an invisible message on the original." Claudia offered, casting a glance towards Leena almost fearfully but knowing she had to make eye contact to get an answer.

"Myka said she tried a blacklight and a flame. Nothing came up." Maxeen tried to chime in helpfully, bracing herself for the redhead's steely glare. Part of her was relatively sad that the first impression she'd given the other girl had led them there, but at the same time she didn't want to give in and be the weak one.

"You're right." Claudia admitted, slumping over the table in defeat. "I guess that means we have to find what it is we have in common that nobody else has." She lifted her head and basically stared at Maxeen with such intent that the girl flinched slightly and blinked.

"I uh..." She paused and let her head fall to the side for a moment before shaking it and sighing. Leena observed the scene while biting her lip.

"It can't be that complicated. I doubt we have that many things in common." The statement came from Claudia and she put some emphasis by crossing her arms. It was Leena's turn to sigh.

"Give the girl a chance, here, will you?"

"We got off on the wrong foot." Maxeen cut in before Claudia could react to Leena's reprimands. Both other women in the room frowned and suddenly seemed very attentive.

"I can't excuse my previous behavior. I... I'm not much of a people's person. And I know that's something I have to work on, so, if you could just, you know, try to... Forget how snippy I was earlier? And we can just start out fresh with proper presentations. Without the risk of a ladder smashing us into pieces. You know?"

Claudia took a deep breath and pondered on the offer for just an instant. Meanwhile, Leena was leaving the room, abandoning the two girls. She had that slight, lopsided smile that meant her mission was accomplished.

"Alright. Starting fresh. I'm Claudia Donovan, twenty. My brother was imprisoned in an artifact when I was a little kid and I spent a few months in a crazy house thinking I was bonkers before I managed to save him from Limbo. Then I decided to stay at the warehouse to help out the gang. Your turn."

Maxeen took a little while to observe Claudia. The other girl was fidgety a tad, as if expecting some sort of remark or reaction that would be typical in a stranger. Then she smirked. "You're quite the survivor, aren't you?"

"Why yes, I pride myself in having survived many an artifact. Including an uber-magnetic suit that almost got me smashed by a car, and a friggin viking spoon that almost burned me from the inside out!" Claudia stopped and gaped for a moment. That answer had flowed out rather easily. She wasn't sure if she hated the other girl more or less for that.

"I uh... I was following warehouse agent training. There was an incident that's well, uh, classified, and I can't talk about it... I'm here so they can keep an eye on me, and I can't do any field work during my probation. Basically. And uh. Otherwise I'm your ordinary, garden variety girl."

"Vegetarian?" Claudia bent forward and Maxeen laughed.

"That's not what I meant at all!"

"Well then, forgive me for asking... But if you're that ordinary, why the um... Tomboy. Thing?"

Maxeen bit her lip and leaned back against her chair. Some remark about Claudia's style came to mind, but she managed to not say it out loud. "See, that's something this dumb society has all back-asswards. Not dressing in high heels and dresses and sporting long hair shouldn't make you different. It's just dumb."

Claudia hated to admit it, but Maxeen had a point. "You're right... Wait. Dress code! You still had your warehouse clothes on you, when we watched that video?"

"I did, why?" Maxeen deadpanned. She wasn't all that excited by whatever it was that seemed to have lightened up her fellow warehouse trooper. Mainly because she had no idea where this was going.

"And I'd been in earlier that day. As in, in it! We both had contact with the neutralizer goo, didn't we?"

"But so did Artie. And he seemed to reaaally enjoy the shoe store Backstreet Boy dude."

There was a moment of silence where both girls stared at each other.

"Damn." Claudia shook her head and slumped back into her chair.

"Hey, have you tried listening to the song backwards? Or in slow motion?" Maxeen threw the suggestion out without too much hope. If anything, Claudia was a genius and had probably already tried that.

"Why would that... Oh! Subliminal messages!"

"Yeah, that. It's worth a try, no?"

*.*.*

"So you're saying there was absolutely **nothing** special about the guitar you sold to that lady?" Myka was in interrogation mode, and the thrift store owner was at a loss. The small although bulky man genuinely had no idea what this was about and the woman kind of scared him. She had this tone that left no question as to whether she was serious.

Pete stood back and, faithful to his habits, was playing around with everything he could find. The shop owner wanted to warn him a few times to be careful, but Myka's stern glare had him riveted to his spot behind the counter.

"I... do think I gave the woman my prized Kurt Kobain pick, though." It seemed as if the man shrunk a little as he said the words, twisting his hands nervously. Pete's head snapped in his direction. "I'd huh... if you happen to find it, can I have it back?"

"Did you hear what the man said? That's very artifact-y! In fact, it reeks of bad karma right about there!" He walked towards Myka with his eyebrows raised, awaiting approval.

"I'll contact Artie and see if there's any record of that guitar pick. You ask the guy more information, alright?" Myka walked out of the store, leaving a proud, grinning Pete looking at a now more relaxed shop owner.

"So what about the pick?"

"Got it at one of Nirvana's last shows. Before, you know... I've played with it a few times."

"Did anything... weird, ever happen when you were playing?" Pete leaned against the counter and accidentally knocked over a bracelet stand which he hurriedly put back in place. He then gave the man a sheepish smile to signal him to answer his question.

"I don't know. Don't think so. I'm not very good, if that's what you mean."

"Did you ever have an audience?"

"What part of 'I'm not very good' do you not understand?" The man seemed a little hurt and Pete decided to smooth it out.

"Never know. Trying to impress a girlfriend, perhaps? Although, a man like you doesn't need to play guitar to impress, am I right?"

"Whatever, man."

Pete cleared his throat and straightened up, suddenly conscious of what that comment might have sounded like. He had all the info he needed, anyway. "Right, uh... " He shot a glance through the window to see Myka was still speaking with Artie. He heard his stomach growl and shook his head. The little bugger wouldn't shut up for more than a few minutes at a time. He frowned then looked back up at the man. "You wouldn't happen to be selling snacks, would you?"

*.*.*

"There's noooothing there!" Maxeen whined as she listened to a backwards performance of Langdon Jones for the tenth time. Claudia raised an eyebrow at her and removed her earphones as well.

"No luck on my side either." She did her best to hide the annoyance at having to do this. Quite clearly there was nothing to be found there.

"What if... ?" Maxeen started, seemingly stumbling upon an idea and debating whether or not to give it any credit.

"Just say it. At this point, any idea is a theory." Claudia sighed and crossed her arms, her eyes falling on Maxeen's exposed neck. There was a tiny spec of light that distracted her enough that when she looked back up Maxeen was nervously replacing the collar of her blue button-up shirt and looking off to the side.

"What if it's some benign but rare medical condition?"

"Singing like that?"

"No! Well it might as well be but..." Maxeen laughed softly and then shook her head. "I mean, us. What if we're both part of the one in a million people with a _genetic anomaly._ Like a missing tailbone. Maybe it's something in our inner ear that would react to the sound waves normally that's not there. Something that the species doesn't need anymore?"

Claudia thoughtfully observed a very fidgety Maxeen for a minute, then blinked. "Do you have such a condition?"

Maxeen seemed caught off guard by the question and had to struggle with her composure before answering in a shaky voice. "I'm not supposed to tell this to anyone, but I DO have hearing implants. So. Yeah. What about you?"

Claudia had a moment of hesitation before she formulated her reply. Suddenly the girl in front of her had a much deeper background than she had imagined. "Hey, who knows?" She attempted a smile and reached for the other girl's hand. "And even if I don't, it could mean something."

Her hand never made it to its destination. "You girls made any progress?"

Both Claudia and Maxeen jumped when they heard Artie speaking from the other end of the room.

"Maybe, what about Pete and Myka?" Claudia asked once she'd taken a deep breath. Her arm was up in the air and she stared at it while she waited for Artie's report.

"Just got off the phone with Myka. She's chasing down a band of groupies who captured Pete because they think he's hiding Langdon. The only lead they have is a Kurt Cobain pick. I just checked and ours is still safely in its box in the storage facility."

"It's gotta be something that modulates the sound, then." Two sets of confused eyes fell on Claudia after her confident affirmation.

"Care to explain?" Artie mumbled, hoping he wouldn't have to pretend to understand some technical mumbo-jumbo he definitely was not born in the right decade for.

"Maxeen put forward the hypothesis that maybe only a few people would be unaffected due to a genetic particularity. If that's the case, it's something from the sound equipment that did this."

"Then why didn't Pete turn into a rockstar too?" Artie pushed on, his bushy eyebrows raised defiantly.

"He's white!" Maxeen exclaimed as she shot up from her chair in favor of looking through a pile of papers they had previously discarded. She sat back down with a particular sheet and typed a name down from it into google before she hit the table with her fist.

"What?" Both Artie and Claudia asked, waiting for the last piece of the puzzle to fall in place.

"The bar owner bought the microphone from a guy named Frank Dileo in an auction." She paused in favor of savoring the moment. Somehow, she had just cracked the first case she'd ever been part of. "Here's the kicked: Guy used to be Michael Jackson's manager!"

*.*.*

"Well I'm certainly glad this is over!" Pete slumped into the couch and cast his eyes to the ceiling. Myka rolled her eyes but nevertheless patted the man's thigh gently.

"I thought being a rockstar was your dream." Claudia mocked him with a wink as she put a bottle of soda on the coffee table in front of him gently.

"Well from now on I'd rather it stays a dream. Fan girls are too rough!" He explained as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"So you and Maxeen, uh?" Myka asked, noting how the other young girl was missing from the victory celebration.

"I still don't know how I feel about her. One minute she's super sweet, then she makes me feel like I should watch my back. She's... smart. But very awkward. And this is queen awkward speaking here." Claudia took a seat in the armchair next to the couch while pointing at herself.

There was a moment of silence.

"I wonder, besides the insane fangirling, what kind of drawback that microphone might've had..." Pete asked, a little worried.

"Pete! It's Michael Jackson! I wouldn't even **want** to know..." Myka shook her head.

"Who knows. Maybe it makes your nose fall off after a while!" A collective chuckle erupted after Claudia's joke, at which point she somehow found herself looking towards the door, kind of hoping to see Maxeen walk through it. That would've proved to the girl that she could be funny and laid back. Although why she would have anything to prove to that girl, she had no idea.

"But, but... I like Michael Jackson!" Pete retorted in a mock offended tone. He then jumped to his feet and proceeded to dance and start singing. "Ha ha ha ha! Staying alive! Staying alive!"

Myka couldn't help but snort before her laughter grew full blown. "That's..." She tried to say between chuckles. "That's the Bee Gees, Pete!" She finished her sentence with a sharp intake of breath and then tried to straighten up.

"Uh..." Pete blinked only once before nodding his head. "I k-knew that! Of course! Tell her, Claud!"

Claudia was also laughing her heart out. She could really care less if Pete meant that or not. The family was all there and she was part of it. Then a pang of guilt hit her straight in the chest and all of a sudden she understood her dislike of Maxeen a bit better.

"Guys, I'll be right back." Claudia excused herself from the room and crossed path with Leena in the hallway leading to the stairs.

She found Maxeen sitting exactly three steps from the bottom and staring out the window in front of her.

"Max, wanna join us?" Claudia asked, seemingly jerking the girl out of some intense thinking session.

"Why would I? There's a chance I might not even be here tomorrow anyway." The tall girl answered with a sigh. Her gaze never shifted from the window.

"W-why not?" Claudia frowned and sat down next to Maxeen.

"Taking credit for the finding also meant admitting I told you classified info." Maxeen turned toward Claudia and offered the girl a sincere smile. "It's up to Artie now, but somehow I doubt he'll want me around. Especially since **you** don't, and he really likes you. For what it's worth though, it was nice working with you. I got no regrets." Maxeen rose to her feet and was about to walk up the stairs before Claudia could even process the information, but the red head turned towards her before she could even spin around.

"I never said I didn't want you around."

The two girls stared at each other, their eyes intense and honest.

Then Claudia flashed Maxeen a sly grin. "Welcome home, Max."

* * *

_AN: It's been forever since I wrote fanfic. As such, I'd really love to know what you think about this one. My writer anxiety is winning over me slowly haha. I actually appreciate honest reviews. I can take a critic so don't go easy on me, I aim to improve!_

_Also, Pete's overeating is a voluntary exaggeration. TBC. =P _


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